08) 2012: A CRITICAL BARGAINING YEAR

People's Voice Editorial

     "Labour unrest" will mark this year, according to the Conference Board of Canada's annual Industrial Relations Outlook report. In the public sector, hundreds of thousands of workers are in bargaining, or will be soon. As a faithful tool of the ruling class, the Board argues that "governments must explain their case to the media and public" and that Canadians are allegedly "fed up with paying public servants $19,000,000,000 more a year than they earn themselves for performing the same jobs."

     Right-wing and even NDP governments hardly need such lies to slam workers in both the public and private sectors. Time after time in recent years, greedy corporate bosses have used their wealth and power to hammer wages, pensions and working conditions; Vale Inco, U.S. Steel, and now Caterpillar are just a few examples. Once rare, the lockout has become the favourite bargaining tool of big capital.

     Union density in the private sector has been pushed down to about 16% in Canada. But the public sector remains 70% unionized, and the ruling class aims to crack this bastion of resistance to their agenda. This explains the barrage of corporate media lies about the supposed "gravy train" for workers who provide a wide range of vital public services to Canadians. The impending lockout of some 30,000 employees by Toronto mayor Rob Ford will be the next step in this all-out assault, but more attacks are coming. Another major confrontation will be the struggle between the B.C. Liberal government and the militant and well-organized B.C. Teachers' Federation. Over 22,000 Alberta health care workers are on the hit list, which gets longer by the day.

     As the saying goes, workers must hang together, or we will be hanged separately. Without united labour resistance, 2012 may become a year of historic defeats. We urge the leadership of the CLC, and the Quebec and provincial federations, to act now to build unity against the bosses' offensive.

(The above article is from the February 1-14, 2012, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)